Cites 20 cases of alleged infringements on iPhone patents
HTC's G1: The first Android phone. Photo: HTC
Apple (AAPL) announced Tuesday that it had filed a lawsuit against HTC, the Taiwanese maker of smartphones, for allegedly infringing on 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware.
“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” said Steve Jobs in a statement prepared for release. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”
Apple COO Tim Cook had made similar statements last year when asked about Google (GOOG)’s Android operating system, which bears a close resemblance to the iPhone’s.
Google wasn’t mentioned in Apple’s press release, but could very well be implicated. Although HTC originally made smartphones that ran Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Mobile operating system, it began switching to Google’s Android in 2009. HTC was the first to market an Android smartphone. It now makes more than half a dozen.
The lawsuit was filed concurrently with the U.S. International Trade Commission and in U.S. District Court in Delaware.
[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]
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